Getty Images | Elva Etienne
A lawsuit filed by Seattle Public Schools alleges social media is one of the root causes of “a youth mental health crisis” and blames social media companies for “exploitation[ing] the neurophysiology” of children’s brains. Arguing that social media companies violate the state’s public nuisance law, the lawsuit seeks monetary damages and other legal remedies from the owners of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
“Defendants successfully exploited the fragile brain of youth, sending tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of overuse and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the lawsuit said. “Worse still, the content defendants compile and send to young people is too often harmful and exploitative (for example, promoting a ‘corpse bride’ diet, eating 300 calories a day or encouraging self-harm).”
The complaint was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
“Most young people mainly use five platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, on which they spend many hours a day,” Seattle Public Schools said in a statement Friday about the lawsuit. “Research tells us that excessive and problematic social media use is detrimental to young people’s mental, behavioral and emotional health and is associated with increased rates of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, eating disorders and suicide.”
Defendants include Facebook and Instagram owner Meta; Snapchat owner Snap; TikTok owner ByteDance; and Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube.
Social networks benefit young users, the lawsuit says
Seattle Public Schools argued that the corporate misconduct “has been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis characterized by increasing numbers of youth struggling with anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation. “
“Defendants have maximized the time users – especially young people – spend on their platforms by purposefully designing, refining and using them to leverage the neurophysiology of the brain’s reward systems to keep users coming back, coming back often and at the respective platforms for as long as possible,” the complaint said. other more mature users.”
The social networks take advantage of young users and “blatantly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requirement” to obtain “verifiable parental consent” prior to collecting and using information about children under the age of 13,” the lawsuit alleged. . The defendants “turned a blind eye to younger users on their platforms by allowing users to self-report their age” and “intentionally marketing their platforms to youth and adolescents,” the lawsuit said.
The number of children with mental health problems has “risen steadily since 2010 and in 2018 suicide has become the second leading cause of death for youth,” the Seattle school’s complaint said. Children spending more time on social networks during the pandemic “has only exacerbated this crisis,” the complaint said.
According to the complaint, research “shows a clear link between youth social media use and disordered eating,” and that “the more time young girls spend on social media platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat, the more likely they are to develop disordered eating behaviors.” .” .”
